Shadows
by Fuzzycat901
Summary: Twenty years after the season 4 finale, the girls are living life in Rosewood peacefully- including Alison. Each girl has their own battle scars and demons to fight and their children are not any different. When Alison starts to receive threatening messages again, it puts the Liars at risk especially for their kids, making them easy targets. A is back, and the game has changed.
1. Episode 1 Part 1

She was hard to mistake running through the open field underneath the brightly lit full moon. Trees loomed over the green grass creating shadows, shadows to hide in. The girl crouched down behind a small shrub, digging her nails into the dirty soil beneath her. Her white summer tank top hung off of one shoulder and her tight black leggings were covered in the sweat that dripped down her legs as she ran. If no one knew any better, they would think Emma Montgomery was peeing behind the bush. But in fact, she was far from that. Emma Fitz was hiding.

"No," the moan unexpectedly escaped her pale cracked lips as she crouched lower and lower to the cool grass below. Everything around her was silent. The tall trees, the ground, even the shrub didn't let out one peep. From what she could see she was alone but in fact, she was far from it. A figure dressed in black from head to toe stepped out of the tree line holding a knife, red with blood. Seeing this Emma flinched, her muscles tightening and her jaw locking. Was this what it had come to? Was this her fate? She shuddered as a summer breeze picked up from nowhere and sent chills running down her spine. She crouched lower until she was lying flat on her stomach, knees tucked in to her chest making her look like a cougar ready to pounce. But, Emma knew she was more like a rabbit ready to run, run away from Rosewood.

The black hooded figure walked closer towards the lone shrub in the middle of the field, eyes locked on the target. Emma could be seen from a mile away, her tank top reflecting off the moonlight. To the left side of the field headlights could be seen through the forest, a back road that lead from Laketon to Rosewood, an easy commute for some. Emma's heart banged wildly against her ribcage, her bones aching and her muscles ready to snap. Her dark brown hair was a tangled mess, dropping down in front of her vibrant green eyes and swaying in the breeze. The shine of the knife flashed into her eyes, making her squint. Who's blood was it? The figure started to run towards the bush his knees pumping up and down up and down.

Emma bolted from the shrub, stumbled to regain her balanced and began to run towards the small commute road. Glancing over her shoulder the person still ran after her, pumping his legs, gripping his bloody knife. Emma let out a ear piercing scream but nothing and nobody was around to hear it, except for the person advancing with the knife. She thought she could see the person smile, curve their lips up towards the sky and flash their pearly white teeth. But after all, it was dark, she couldn't tell a rock from a stump. Headlights bobbed up and down on the road, circling around large rocks and dead animals. This was the back road, the road less travelled by. But still, Emma ran for it.

"Help!" She screamed and waved her arms like an idiot. She was almost at the road, her chest rising up and down and beads of sweat dripping down her pale white face. Nothing was going to stop her, not even the person chasing her. The figure was almost at her side and if they wanted to, they could reach out and graze their black gloved fingers across her freckly skin but, they just kept running.

_Just keep running._

Alison Dilaurentis's words echoed in Emma's head, bouncing off her skull and sending chills down her back. She had to keep running, she had to keep going, but for how long? Her legs were aching and her head pounded with fear and pain. That's when it happened.

The car came whizzing around the corner, a little too fast. The figure caught up to her, grabbed the upper part of her arm and tugged back, pulling her down to the gravel below. Her knees came in contact with the ground, sharp little rocks jabbing into Emma's flesh and some digging deep into her bone. She let out another scream and still, no one could hear her. The black figure stood above her, knife raised and blood dripping down onto her face where it danced upon her lips. She closed her eyes and waited for the pain of the blade to sink down into her flesh and the tip to insert itself into her bone.

It never came.

She heard the thud before she could feel it. As Emma flew through the air she could feel her flesh opening to display the deep red blood that was inside. She was being opened up, put on display for everyone around her to see. With her eyes still closed she could feel the pain of being cut open and the bruises consistent with the car forming around her torso. She could taste blood, blood that wasn't hers. She opened her eyes and saw the driver of the car, mouth open, tears flowing.

She closed her eyes before she hit the gravel below.

* * *

**Six Months Later**

Max was beginning to think there was no key to happiness. She could find a lock but she couldn't find a key. What if that was the case? What if life was just an illusion and she was living another life, somewhere off in a far away galaxy.

"Knock, knock?" Aria was at the door dressed in her usual attire of jeans and a sloppy t-shirt. Max sighed, flopped down on her bed and closed her hazel eyes.

"Come in," she muttered.

Aria walked in, her feat barely making a sound on the puke green carpet. The room was a mess. Clothes strewn on the floor, dirty dishes and homework sat on the windowsill and the dust covered desk. Aria gently sat herself down on the bed, looked down at her youngest daughter and smiled.

"What are you up to today?" She asked, smoothing back the wrinkles in the sheets.

Max shrugged, looking up at the white ceiling. "I don't know, just thinking I guess."

Aria let out a large sigh. "Max, I think it's time to clean up this room, when was the last time you cleaned?"

"About six months ago, the night that Emma died." The words flung off her tongue and into the ears of her mother, hitting her hard as if she had run into a brick wall.

"Emma's not dead, Max," Aria chose her words carefully. "She's still in the hospital."

Max thought about her sister, lying on the lumpy hospital bed hooked up to machines and tubes. A mask situated underneath her nose, providing the oxygen that Emma couldn't provide herself. Blood was still caked underneath her fingernails, her cuts and bruises healing one by one. But the scars still remained, and even after six months they hadn't fully healed.

"She's in a coma, mom. She hasn't woken up yet and it's been six months, don't you think it's time to let her go?"

"No!" Aria snapped, springing up off the bed and standing straight up. "Max clean your room up, I'll come back and check on you in a bit." Aria huffed, turning around to leave the way she came but like Aria, Max wasn't done with a conversation when she said it was.

"Have you ever wondered if Emma would have ever gotten hit by that car if she wasn't the person that she was?"

Aria turned around on her heels. "What do you mean?"

Max sat up, the brown hairs on her head sticking straight up from the static of her pillow. "What if she wasn't such a party slut?" the words sprung out like snake venom and attacked Aria. Max continued. "What if she wasn't the bitch she was?"

"Stop it..." Aria warned.

"What if... what if..."

"Maxine Chloe Fitz!" Aria screamed, wanting to plug her ears and close her eyes, drift off away from this world of hatred and fear. "I don't ever want to hear you talk about your big sister like that!" She had nothing more to say.

Aria stormed out of Max's room, more or less slamming the door behind her. Straight ahead of her on the wall is a picture of Emma smiling widely with her head resting against her father- Ezra's- shoulder. Aria let out a sigh, then a gasp, and before she knew it she was sliding down the wall with her head in her palms letting wet salty tears flow down her face. Why had this happened? Six months ago, she got the news her daughter had been hit by a car. Then, upon getting there, her daughter looked dead, lying motionless on the bed attached and strapped to as many machines that could fit in the room. She had collapsed into Ezra's arms, her knees hitting the white hospital floor beneath her.

Her phone dinged, bringing her back to reality. Hanna had sent her two text messages in the last minute, each containing a high level of urgency in her voice, even though Aria couldn't hear it. "Come to the shop, quick, it's an emergency," and then "Where are you? Get your ass down here!"

Aria stood up, smoothed down her hair and went back to Max's shut door. "Max," she called. "I'm going to go see Alison, will you be okay here?"

No answer.

Aria rolled her eyes and went down the stairs and into her car, honking the horn twice before leaving the garage.

* * *

Even with age Alison Dilaurentis looked almost as young as twenty eight. Even though the years had done her some hardship, dodging the odd threat and escaping the hands of -A, she still looked good for her age.

"Where are they?" She asked through gritted teeth, pacing the room back and forth. Behind her sat Hanna swivelling around on a bar stool with boxes packed behind her.

"I'm sure they'll be here any minute," Hanna Marin said trying to calm her friend down. "Aria's on her way."

"Well she better hurry," Alison snapped back, kicking a small pebble out of her way. For years this old warehouse had served as her home. The makeshift bed in the corner, the small rotten wood table in the middle, it was all she had ever known. Tears stung the back of her eyes at the thought of leaving this place, but just as she had swallowed her pride years ago she swallowed her tears now.

"Ali, what's the rush? You've been here for twenty years and no one has found you.

"Twenty years too long." Alison mumbled underneath her breath.

"I got your text," Emily Fields walked into the room sporting a low purple work out shirt and tight spandex work out shorts. She turned to Ali, her black ponytail swinging from side to side. "Is everything okay? I was on my way to the gym."

The sound of high heels clicking against the hard stone surface made all eyes turn and face the noise. Spencer Cavanaugh walked into the room, a tight short dress fitted against the curves of her hips.

"Jeez guys," she smiled. "What the emergency? I was on my way to Hunter's fundraising dinner for his soccer team."

"Trust me Spencer, we all have somewhere else we want to be right now," Aria spoke loudly, walking into the large room hearing her voice echo off the walls. "What the situation Ali, and why is all of your stuff in boxes?"

"Someone found me," Alison said cutting straight to the point. The four girls' jaws dropped and their eyes widened. Alison unfolded a picture from her pocket and gave it to the girls. The picture displays her opening the door to her warehouse, looking over her shoulder.

"How did you get this?" Spencer asked.

Alison flips the picture over and sure enough on the backside in bright red ink is a message:

**"Alison Dilaurentis: Loser at hide and go seek. I've seeked you bitch, watch your back.**

**-A"**

"I thought this was over," Alison practically screamed, on the verge of tears. "After that night... After the night that Ezra was shot and the messages stopped... I thought it was all done! Nothing! I thought I could live life in peace."

"We'll help you through this," Emily was the first to speak up. "Alison, please don't leave."

"Staying isn't an option any more, Emily. It's a death wish." Alison crossed the room, beginning to pace back and forth.

"Ali we'll get down to the bottom of this. Right now, just try not to freak out." Spencer tried setting her logic down upon Ali but like always, it didn't work.

"Spencer I can't ignore this! Last time this happened I was nailed in the head with a rock from my own garden! I am not treating this like a school note. This is real."

"So what do you propose we do?" Hanna asked, folding her arms close to her chest. She wasn't feeling comfortable tonight.

"I'm leaving, tonight," Alison said firmly. "I think you all should leave too, just to be safe."

"I haven't been receiving any threatening messages," Emily said.

"I can't just ask my kids to pick up their lives and leave suddenly, Rosewood is all they've ever known. And what am I supposed to tell Toby?" Spencer started to panic, advancing forwards to Alison.

"Yeah and I can't ask Maddie to ditch school, she's struggling with her subjects." Hanna whispered.

"I can't go," Aria's voice faded. "Emma's here... so here is why I'm going to stay."

Silence overcame the girls as they looked the other direction and shifted their stance. Everyone knew about Emma and what it had done to Aria's family. Everyone knew better than to talk about it.

"Don't you think you're being a bit too cautious, Ali?" Emily asked.

"There is no such thing as being too cautious," Alison looked to Aria. "I've been fighting for my life for more than twenty years and so far I've been kicking it. You'll all receive messages too, it's just a matter of time."

Spencer scoffed. "You're not seriously suggesting that -A is actually back, are you?"

Alison looked at Spencer, invisible daggers escaping from her glare. "Times have changed Spencer, and so has the game."

* * *

_**Wow! That was a long first chapter! Anyways, welcome to my story. This story was written on my other profile Jordietheshortie as a script but not many people were reading it because I don't think they wanted to follow the format. I'm not the best writer (I'm a screenwriter) but I hope you still read this! Please review your thoughts/opinions/and suggestions as it helps me improve with the storyline and if I do say so myself... I've got a pretty damn good one set in place. Review please! **_


	2. Episode 1 Part 2

"The news is so damn depressing," Maddie Marin mumbled underneath her breath while shoving a mouthful of broccoli through her lips. She tucked a piece of sandy blonde hair behind her ear just as it went into her mouth, entangling with her food. Maddie began to play with her food, dragging a lone piece of broccoli across her plate and through the mashed potatoes, making the green vegetable come out as carbs.

"Maddie, is there something you want to talk about?" Hanna asked, turning down the volume of the television. She could always tell when her daughter was upset; playing with her food, eating quickly. Hanna could read her like a book, and that's what scared her.

"I got fifty eight percent on my Biology test today," She sighed, letting it all go before taking a not so graceful bite of the brocoli-potatoe.

"Wow, that's fantastic!" Hanna chirped. "Remind me to definitely bring out those chocolate chip cookies I picked up at the store today!"

Maddie looked at her mother, her blue eyes glaring and her nostrils flaring. "No mom, it's not fantastic."

"It's better than what I used to get in school," Hanna whispered picking up a raw carrot and snapping it in half. Maddie threw down her napkin and let her fork clatter to her now empty white plate.

"I studied so hard for that test, it's not fair how some of the other kids don't even have to study and they ace it anyways,"

"You'll get it next time, I believe in you."

The two sat in silence for a moment, each contemplating what to say next. Hanna looked around at the mantle place, the pictures of Maddie growing up, her three friends and of course the odd one of Alison and her together. She smiled meekly as she remembered what was missing on that mantle place, something she had always wanted...

"Hey Maddie, how would you feel about getting out of Rosewood for a couple of days?" the question rolled off of her tongue like butter running down a piece of golden brown toast. She bit her lower lip, looked at Maddie and hoped for the best.

"If by out of Rosewood you mean like a vacation?" Maddie questioned, a wide smile plastered onto her tan skin. Hanna took a moment to observe her, to look at how skinny she had gotten in the past couple months. The bracelets on her wrist hung and dangled, almost slipping off. Her collarbones were showing more and her cheeks were beginning to hallow; it was a miracle she had eaten a full meal. Maybe this is what Maddie needed, to get away from her bullies and demons at Rosewood High and take time to relax.

Hanna chuckled at her daughter's giddiness. "Yeah, sort of like that. Except your Aunt Alison would be tagging along, it was her idea."

"The more the merrier," Maddie smiled, getting up to clean her dishes from the table. "I'm going to go study for my Math exam tomorrow, see you in the morning."

"Good night," Hanna smiled, watching as Maddie walked up the stairs, yoga pants hanging off her hips. She turned her attention back to the television where an overdone news caster with spikey blonde hair stood at the scene of a crime, police lights flashing in the background. Hanna scoffed and rolled her eyes; this reporter had been on the air for years, known for her f-bomb when she slipped up on live TV a few years back. But this time, there was no goofing around. Hanna turned up the volume and listened.

"Locals in Philadelphia are asked to be on the lookout for thirty seven year old Caleb Rivers who is wanted for robbery and fraud. Locals say Rivers has been a great friend and neighbour to many, and they are shocked to hear news of such events. Police are processing the scene now for any valuables that may have been left behind. Over to Kia Johnson back at the station while we wait for an update."

Hanna sat there, jaw open, eyeballs rushing forwards looking like they would pop out any second. Caleb Rivers... the man she hadn't seen in eighteen years... the man that knocked her up and left in the morning... was in Philadelphia, so close to where she lived. Without a second thought she leapt up off her chair and grabbed the nearest phone, tripping and knocking over a barstool along the way. Upstairs, Maddie listened to the commotion her mother was causing.

"Hello?" Hanna asked after dialing the first number on her call display. "Oh, Emily, hi! Did you see the news?"

"No," Emily hesitated on the other end. "Why?"

"Caleb was on it," The words were still so surreal. She hadn't spoken his name in ages, days, months, and yet here she was, talking to Emily as if he had never gone away.

Emily paused. "Say that again?"

At the end of the hallway, Maddie picked up the other phone line, silently pressing it against her ear, eager to hear one of her mother's secrets.

"He's wanted for robbery and fraud. Of all things it had to be that!" Hanna threw her left arm up in the air dramatically.

"At least it's nothing bigger; did Maddie see?" Emily asked.

"No, she's doing her homework upstairs. Thankfully she doesn't know him and I intend on keeping it that way; he's bad for this family." Hanna snapped back, memories swelling at the back of her mind. Why now? Why today? Why had he chosen to take a step forwards and come into Hanna's life again, even if it was just through the TV.

"She's eighteen Hanna," Emily sounded like she was giving a lecture. "I think she's old enough to know Caleb's her father."

Maddie gasped, pressing the phone harder to her ear. The one question she had asked all her life but had never got the answer to had been answered. Why didn't it feel satisfying?

"Caleb doesn't even know about her, it's better that way." Hanna sighed, sitting back down in her chair, waiting for the crazy news reporter to come back on the air with more results. Back in the hallway Maddie tip toed back up the stairs, her heart beating wildly and her blood pulsing quickly through her veins.

She knew who her father was, now all she had to do was go find him.

* * *

"I'm so stuffed from that chicken dinner," Hunter Cavanaugh patted his flat muscular stomach and smiled. He flung his dress jacket on the coat rack, then turned around to help his father carry a rather large and ugly portrait through the doorway.

Spencer giggled at the two of them. "My favourite part was when your father tripped and fell on the cables leading up to the stage to collect his raffle prize,"

"The painting wasn't even worth it," Toby complained, still trying to get the frame through the door. "Besides, what do you think we should do with this?"

"I think it would make a lovely Christmas present for Grandma and Grandpa," Hunter laughed, letting the frame drop from his hands and onto the steps below. Spencer lightly slapped him with her silver clutch, getting glitter on his soccer jersey.

"That's not nice!" She laughed looking at the painting of the ugly horse, craning his skinny deformed neck to reach an apple in a tree.

"I'm just saying!" Hunter whined.

"It would be funny to see the look on your parents faces Spencer when they unwrap the thing and pretend to like it," Toby chuckled, giving up on the painting. "Hunter, let's go take this painting into the shed and we'll rip off the frame then decide what to do with the painting."

Toby and Hunter picked up the hideous painting and walked down the steps, running into a bush along the way. Spencer shut the door behind them and continued to chuckle as she wound her way down the hallway and into the dark living room. It was deadly silent. She fumbled for a light switch on the wall, flicked it up and immediately wished she hadn't. There was her sixteen year old daughter Lor, on the couch with her most recent boyfriend Brad Lynn. She was on top of him, her lips moving down his neck quickly and his hands wrapped up in her brunette hair. Brad didn't have a shirt on, and neither did Lor.

"Oh my god," Spencer averted her eyes quickly, not wanting to see what else was going on.

Lor tumbled off of Brad and rolled to a stop next to the coffee table. "Mom! What are you doing home so early?" She asked, trying to locate her shirt and her jeans. Beer bottles sat on the table, the whole living room reeking of alcohol and perfume.

"The fundraiser ended sooner than expected. And what are you doing, Lorena? It's a little early for beer and something extra on the side. It's only eight o' clock." Spencer crossed the room over to her daughter where she was still trying to find her top. Spencer picked up the short black tank top from the edge of the carpet and handed it to Lor.

"I think I should get going, I'll see you tomorrow Lor," Brad said, leaping up from the couch. Spencer averted her eyes once more when she saw the bare the bottom of her daughter's boyfriend.

"Wait, Brad don't forget your clothes." Lor grabbed them in a pile and flung them at her boyfriend. He caught them without a moments hesitation, hurrying to get them back on and far away as possible from Spencer's dagger like glares. He hurried out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Spencer turned to Lor, staring down at her in disbelief. "Get some appropriate clothes on," Spencer growled, looking down at the slutty top and too tight ripped jeans. "You're lucky it was me and not your dad. I thought I told you I didn't want Brad in this house again, not after what he did two months ago."

"Oh come on!" Lor whined. "He was high out of his mind back then! Why can't you just give him a break?"

"You know me well enough to know that I don't give breaks in this house. Where's Sam?" Spencer asked, looking for her middle child. Sam was the nerd of her family, and she meant it with love. He was usually out with his friends gaming on a console or reading up in his room quietly. He wasn't the popular kid like his older brother Hunter or the school player like his younger sister Lor.

"Out with his friends, he said he'd be home before midnight," Lor mumbled, picking up the empty beer bottles.

"Finish cleaning before your father comes back in and I'll go track down Sam. We'll discuss your punishment later." Spencer turned her back, picking up her phone.

"But mom!" Lor exclaimed practically throwing the bottles down on the floor.

"No buts! I certainly don't want to see another one on my couch unless it has something covering it."

* * *

Alison still paced back and forth, running her hand along the smooth and scratched surface of her table. She smiled as she touched each stain, remembering where it had come from. The purple one was from Emma's nail polish when she was twelve and the yellow one was from Sam when he painted her a picture at age four. The large scratch was from Lor's car keys dragging across the surface a few days earlier and the missing chunk at the end was from Maddie after she punched her hand through the surface and broke the table and her hand; it wasn't the sturdiest table.

Alison's heart sank at the thought of leaving her friends, their kids, everything she knew and loved. Her heart broke for Aria as she though of Emma in the hospital, lying motionless hooked up to life support. Alison's stomach tied into knots her hands becoming cold and clammy. It was her fault that Emma was in the hospital, her fault she didn't stop her. She remembered the night Emma came to her with the threats and the emails. She had cried and cried into Alison's shoulder, mascara staining the couch.

A loud knock on the backdoor interrupted Alison's thoughts causing her to turn around quickly on her heels. The knock came again except this time it was louder and more rapid; the person knocking was desperate. Alison's heart pounded in her chest. She eyed the baseball bat that Hunter had left by mistake and lunged for it, holding it up high as if she were about to take a swing. Was she about to take a swing? She reached for the door handle, her hand shaking with fear and adrenaline. She flung it open quickly and prepared to hit the person in the head but immediately put it down when she saw that it was just Charlotte Fields.

"Charlie," she sighed, dropping the bat. "Come in."

Charlie stepped in the apartment soaking wet from head to toe. Her black hair was pulled back in a messy braid and scratch marks were present on her face, no doubt from running through bushes.

"What happened to you?" Alison asked, pulling her best friend's daughter onto the couch and wrapping her in a blanket. Charlie was shaking, her tan hands trying to grasp her phone.

"Mom had the car, she had to go over to Hanna's for something. I ran here, Aunt Alison I think the same thing is happening to me as what happened with... what happened with Emma."

Alison's heart stopped beating and her blood ran cold. "What do you mean, what happened with Emma?" She was trying to play dumb but Charlie could clearly tell she was out of practice with lying.

"Emma was receiving death threats before the accident. She told me she came to you for help, but to be honest I'm not sure why."

Charlie was the only one who was skeptical about things. The paranoid one of her friends seven kids. She always jumped at a sudden noise, screamed when someone came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. Alison couldn't tell Charlie the truth about why Emma had came to her crying about the threats. Out of the seven kids only one of them knew about Ali's past and that was Emma. Alison didn't know how she found out, but she did. Emily, Spencer, Hanna, and Aria had sworn to secrecy and to protect their children they would never tell them what happened to the five of them. Alison had suspected that Aria had broken that promise but after a quick fight shortly before Emma was struck by the car Alison was convinced that she was wrong.

"Are you receiving the death threats now?" Alison asked, taking Charlie's phone from her shaking hands.

"I don't think it's a death threat... Actually, I don't know what it is." Charlie's green eyes skirted back and forth, looking at the boxes stacked on top of one another.

**"Ever think that while you're looking over your shoulder I could be standing in front of you?  
-A"**

"Have you received any other messages from -A? Have any of the others received any messages?" Alison asked, getting up to lock the windows and the front door.

"I haven't talked to the others in so long. I'm only really close with Maddie. Aunt Ali I'm scared, am I going to end up like Emma?"

"Charlie go home, go tell your mom about these texts and ask Maddie if she's receiving these as well. Also tell your mom... tell her I'm sorry." Alison stuttered, taking the blanket off of Charlie. She had to get her to leave, before something horrible happened.

"Wait, what, why?" Charlie was confused as to why Alison was kicking her out. Alison was the one Charlie could always confide in, tell her everything and anything and she would be there, listening. As far as Charlie knew Alison knew all of the kids' secrets.

"Just do it," Alison snapped back then wrapping her arms around Charlie's neck in a tight hug. "You're really brave," she whispered. "Just like your mother."

"I don't understand," Charlie said, pulling away.

"You won't, and you may never. But no matter what, never stop running. Now go, get!" Alison pushes Charlie out the door without so much as a goodbye. She looked at the boxes behind her. Her world was slowly shattering and she had no choice but to run from it. To run from her own shadow.

* * *

**Alright, so that chapter kind of sucked, not going to lie. The next chapter will be way better though! Ezra and Aria fans... you ready for some Ezria next chapter? ;) Please review! **


	3. Episode 1 Part 3

Ezra Fitz walked into the hospital room, his feet barely making a sound on the marble floor. Slung around his shoulder was a leather bag with papers upon papers strewing out the top and the side compartments. His hair was a frizzy mess and the black bags underneath his eyes indicated he hadn't slept in days. The girl in the hospital bed looked so different, so fragile, yet she was exactly the same. Her cuts and bruises had gotten better, healed with time and rest.

"Hey, Emma," he said, pulling up a chair and kissing the top of his eldest daughter's head. "How's it going today?"

No response. Emma chest rose up and down to the beat of the heart monitor, peacefully sleeping.

"Today marks six months of you being here," he swallowed a lump in his throat. "I'm not going to lie, everyday is harder than the last. Your mother has been cleaning excessively and as good as that sounds I wish she would stop. Your friends all miss you; Tyson, Jai, Maddie... even your sister. God, Max has been moody lately. Just last night she made your mother cry again. It made me think how if you were home you would have smacked her, told her to get a grip. And I would have come up and grounded you two for three days,"

Ezra began to chuckle, tears welling up in his eyes. "Your mom..." he couldn't make out the next few words, but he knew he had to. "Emma I know you can hear me, and please I don't want to say this. But if I were in your position I would want to know the truth. Your mom wants to pull the plug, take you off life support and drift silently off into eternal sleep, but I can't let her do that."

A soft knock sounded at the door, although to Ezra's ears it was equivalent to an airplane taking off above his head. "Come in."

Aria opened the door, clinging tightly to white papers and her brown leather purse. She looked at Emma, then to Ezra and then down at her old black converse she had had for almost fifteen years. There was dirt stains, bleach stains, and even dog shit stains but like Alison and her table, Aria had memories with her old shoes.

"So," she whispered, sitting down next to Ezra in another chair. "I got the papers." Her voice cracked. A feeling of anger and pain welled up inside her chest. A fire was burning and smoking making her cough and cough until eventually it felt as if she could breathe no more.

"I can't let you..." Ezra trailed off, his words becoming sobs. Aria let him lean in on her shoulder, rubbing his back up and down in a circular motion. She kissed his forehead, whispered 'it's okay' into his ear over and over again. Beside her parents Emma lay still, her body unaware of the complete and utter chaos around her. Or, so it was in Ezra's mind.

"I don't want to either," Aria whispered, still stroking his back. "I don't even want to admit that she's gone,"

"But she's not gone," Ezra pulled away. "She's right here in front of us."

"Ezra you know what the doctors have said. She's been in a coma for six months, do you think she'll ever wake up?"

"Some people have stayed in a coma for over a year and eventually woken up. They're family didn't give up on them."

There was that phrase 'giving up'. Her and Ezra had had many fights about Emma and her situation and neither one had settled on an agreement. The bills were starting to pile up, one by one on their dining room table. How long before they ran out? There was only so much money from two teaching salaries that could be put towards such an event.

"I never knew that we wouldn't be able to afford to keep our daughter alive," Ezra scoffed, wiping his sleepy eyes with his hands. "Just, can we see if we can do anything about it, first? Just before we tell the doctors about our final decision."

"We'll give it a week," Aria whispered refusing to believe the words came from her mouth. But to her dismay, they had.

* * *

_"Meet me at the park, twelve  
-Alison" _

Underneath the moonlight the four girls looked at one another, the shadow from the trees hiding their expressions. Charlie looked up from her phone, the screen illuminating against the light.

"So..." her voice echoed against the treeline. She turned to Maddie for help. "Where do you think Aunt Alison is?"

Maddie shrugged her shoulders and shoved her phone back into her pocket, obviously something else on her mind. "I don't know," she said coolly.

"Well for starters if my mom catches me out here at this time of night I'm going to get my ass kicked," Lor mumbled, folding her arms.

"Lor, stop freaking out, we're all wondering the same thing," Max rolled her eyes and continued to dig up the grass below with her shoe, overturning the dirt particle by particle. Why had Alison called them out into the empty park at midnight? She knew that all of them weren't friends, let alone the same age. Charlie and Maddie led the group at age eighteen while Max and Lor stayed behind at sixteen.

"Because," Alison came out of nowhere, her voice booming across the field. All four girls turned around and stared. "You all need to know the truth so you can endure the rough patch of seas ahead of you," Alison smiled at each girl, each resembling their parents in some way. She felt a large pang in her stomach as she looked at Charlie, her eyes so much like Emily's and at Lor, her stature and physique much like Spencer.

"What's ahead of us?" Lor asked, her voice shaky.

"There's something you four should know about, and it has to do with Emma's accident," Alison's voice sounded like a ghost's wandering through the air. The four in front of her remained quiet and as still as a stump. Every girl almost looked away from Alison not daring to make contact with her face; except for Max, who stared straight at her.

"I've been getting messages from a person called -A," Charlie spoke out, looking at her three friends.

"Me too," Maddie whispered beside her. Alison leaped forwards and snatched Maddie's phone from her pocket, fishing through her text messages to find what she was looking for.

_**"195 Penbrake Road, kisses  
-A"**_

"Penrbake Road?" Alison questioned, looking up at Maddie. "Should that mean anything to you?"

"Nope, I don't know what it means or where it is," Maddie lied.

"Well don't go there. Anybody else getting messages?" Alison looked at Lor who's face contorted from confusion, to sadness, to just pure giggly. Lor could never tell a lie.

"You may be pretty Lor but you're not a liar. Cough it up," Alison held out her hand and Lor gently placed her cell into Alison's palm.

_**"There once was whore named Lor... Need I say more? You'll get what you deserve.  
-A"**_

Alison didn't read this one out loud. The rest of the girls didn't need to know about Lor's private life although they probably did. Alison felt for her. She knew what it was like to be the popular girl at the school, the girl that everyone looked up to yet when held so high on the pedestal a girl can only look so far down.

"How about you, Maxine?" Alison smiled, her heart tugging. "Did you get any messages?"

"No," Max spit looking away. "And that's the truth."

"Aunt Alison, what's happening? Why are we getting these prank texts?" Maddie asked unaware to the vivid threat around them.

"Maddie these aren't pranks, they're real. It all began the summer I turned sixteen. It was a hot night but the ground became drenched with rain and my blood..."

* * *

**_Ooo, Alison told them!? But did she tell them everything, are they prepared for the storm that is going to SMACK into them? I know it was short, I know it was dull, but it's one of those one's where it's a 'ramping up' episode for the next big thing. Next time I update it will be Episode 2 Part 1. What is in store for everyone? Will Maddie find Caleb? Will Aria and Ezra pull the plug on Emma? Leave your thoughts and opinions below because truth be told it gives me a creative boost to write more and more :) _**


	4. Episode 2 part 1

195 Penbrake Road.

There it was, right in front of her. The door kicked in, the windows smashed, the weeds swaying and tangling in the wind. It looked like something right out of a Science Fiction TV show yet it looked so modern with Emily's silver SUV parked outside. The neighbourhood was deserted, not a single car in sight.

"So, what should we do?" Charlie whispered to Maddie from the front seat, adjusting her rear-view mirror correctly to see how she was putting on her mascara. Maddie looked again at the house standing peaceful against the back drop of ruined and decayed apartments. What was this place?

"Guys, our parents are going to kill us," Lor sat up in the backseat, brown hair sticking straight up in the air. "It's bad enough that I didn't go home last night,"

"Yeah Maddie how did we end up in Philly? I know I was tired so I let you drive home, but I didn't think we'd wake up in a Wal-Mart parking lot. " Charlie questioned glaring at her best friend. Maddie still stared at the house looming before her. A light flashed in the upstairs window. Someone was in there. Her father was in there.

"Curiosity overcame me." Maddie whispered, still in a trance.

From the backseat Lor scoffed and pushed Maddie's seat in ahead. "I just want to get home before my mom thinks I'm sleeping over at a new boyfriend's house. She'll take away my driving privileges."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll get you home before any of that happens Lorena." Charlie rolled her eyes. When Lor had asked for a ride home from the park after their meeting with Alison, Charlie was opposed to it. The last time she had been in a room alone with Lor was when she saw her legs wrapped around her boyfriend's torso, her lips smashing together with his and her fingers ruffling his bleach blonde hair.

"I'm going in." Maddie said, breaking Charlie's thoughts. She pressed unlock and stepped out of the car, her feet crunching below on the gravel. Charlie's head snapped up and she lurched forwards as if to grab Maddie and pull her back into the car.

"Are you crazy?" she said frantically. "This neighbourhood is abandoned and do you know what could be lurking for you inside that house?" She glanced at Lor in the back who sat picking her nails. Maddie understood the signal.

_Don't leave me alone with her._

"I'm sorry," Maddie apologized. "But this is something I have to do." She closed the car door, turned her back and stalked off towards the eerie house. Charlie honked her horn once.

"If you don't come out, I'm telling my mom that it was really you who stole her Fossil wallet." Charlie laughed and then pulled away, the windows rolling up and the doors locking. Maddie took another look at the house, took a deep breath, and made her way up to the porch. Hopefully Charlie would be wrong.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Emily hissed into the receiver, looking over her shoulder at the loud bang coming from the front door. Charlie walked into view, purse slung over her shoulder, her black hair tied up in a messy bun. "Can I call you back? Charlie just walked in, thanks."

"Mom I can explain..." Charlie whispered, her voice cracking. She didn't expect her mom to understand, let alone care.

"I just got off the phone with your father," Emily began, ignoring the fact that Charlie had taken off with her car and her friends and disappeared for the night. "He and I both think it's a good idea if you spend the summer with him."

"No!" it came out of Charlie's mouth without a moments hesitation. "Mom this is my senior year! I'm graduating in nine months! I'm not going to spend my last summer with a man who barely knows my name!"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Just because he calls you Charlotte doesn't mean you have to hate him."

"I don't hate him because of that!" Charlie spat, throwing her bag onto the red leather sofa beside her. "He's never been there for me. He's never attended any of my soccer games, basketball games, and he hasn't even come to town on any of my birthday's. I'm grateful for the cards he sends but looking him in the eye is much better than staring at the words in hand writing."

Charlie stormed down the hall and slammed her bedroom door.

"You're grounded, by the way!" Emily called after her, her voice ringing through the hallways of picture frames and lame wall decorations. They had lived in this house for two years and still some of their belongings still sat in cardboard boxes against the walls. Emily thought back to Alison's house the night before, how all of her belongings had been packed away. Emily's stomach tightened. Everybody seemed to be packing up and moving on with their lives. But what about Emily? She hadn't even finished unpacking...

_He paced back and forth in her hallway, running a hand through his dark brown hair and fixing the picture frame in front of him that sat sideways on the wall. How long had it been? Five minutes? Fifteen minutes? Or maybe he had been waiting out in the hall for an hour. _

_"It's only been a minute," a twenty year old Emily came out of the bathroom glaring at her unexpected lover. "I wish you would relax."_

_"How can I relax?" he snorted. "This is a big deal for me."_

_"For us," Emily corrected. "Don't forget that I'm not exactly a player on your team."_

_He nodded his head. Emily was a lesbian, she always had been and she always will be. He didn't expect her to change for him in fact, he didn't want her to change. It was a weekend fling at his sister's wedding. They just happened to crossed paths and then... _

_"I'm pregnant," Emily gasped, dropping the test to the floor. The two minutes were up. _

_"What?" His head snapped up, waiting for the funny little laugh she had when she was joking. But she was dead serious. Emily Fields stood looking at the pregnancy test on the ground. _

_"I think you should leave," she said. "Please, I would like to be alone." _

_In honour of the girl he loved for a weekend, he left. He walked down her stairs and out the door into broad daylight, knowing that he was about to be a father to a baby that he had just walked out on..._

Emily's phone buzzed in her pocket, bringing her out of her deep thoughts.

_**"Hiding a secret, Emily? Remember, secrets are the fuel I need to drive...  
-A"**_

She wasn't hiding a secret... really. Charlie knew who her father was, she's seen pictures and even met him in person one time. They Skype once a month and he even writes a hand written letter once in a while. The only people who she was lying to were her friends... They didn't know who Charlie's father was nor did they ask.

"You don't want to know who it is." Emily had told already pregnant Hanna and Aria and wide eyed Spencer and Ali on the day she had found out.

"Is it someone we know?" Hanna pried on. Emily never answered her question but the truth was it was someone they all knew very well, and it was right in front of their noses.

* * *

"Hello?" Maddie called into the vacant house, the door creaking open with the slight breeze behind her. A wooden staircase loomed before her, a single light bulb hanging down from the wood ceiling; it was on. "I got your text message," she called up the stairs. "If you're A, that is..."

A noise sounded to her right, scaring the living daylights out of her. She jumped to her left, smashing her shoulder against the wall.

SMASH

Another noise to her right and this time, she jumped forwards, still looking to her right at the noise.

"Ow," Maddie whispered as she ran into something in front of her... _someone_ in front of her. She looked up into his big blue eyes and long brown hair that looked as if it hadn't been brushed in days. He almost smiled at her, as if he had been her father for years. Well, technically he had.

"Caleb... Rivers...?" Maddie stuttered, her body still pressed up against her father's; it felt good to somewhat hug the man she had never known. But, the feelings weren't mutual. Caleb pushed her off of him sending her tripping backwards on her own feet. Balancing herself out on the banister in front of her, she continued to stare at him.

"Who sent you?" Caleb spits out, his face contorting to anger. "Was it the police? Do you work for them? Or are you one of those media freaks?"

"Ummm," Maddie bit her lip, unsure of what to say. She hadn't actually expected to find her father... let alone figure out what to say to him. "I'm Maddie... Maddie... Look out!"

Maddie could see the barrel of a gun creep out from around the corner, a black gloved hand holding the sleek black handle. A shot rang out just as Maddie grabbed her father and took him down to the floor with him, the bullet grazing the skin of his neck. He screamed out in pain and clutched his neck, blood seeping through his fingers and over his black leather jacket. With all her strength Maddie lifted him up to his feet and together the two stumbled out of the house, both putting their support on each other. Looking back, Maddie could see the gunman had fled the scene.

"Shit!" Maddie cursed as they ran down the lawn. "Shit, shit, shit!"

Charlie had disappeared down the road a while ago and at the rate that she speeds down the highway Maddie new that she was already halfway home to Rosewood. Police sirens could be seen and heard around the corner, blazing loud and clear.

"I... can't... I can't get caught." Caleb spluttered almost falling to his knees.

"It's okay," Maddie reassured him. "We won't." She began to lead him into the bushes and down the steep and bumpy pathway. Jagged rocks and sticks stuck up at every turn threatening to trip Maddie and Caleb from getting to their destination.

"I think they went this way!" A police man barked at his fellow officers, a dozen or so footsteps heading their way.

"Quick!" Maddie whispered glancing at a hollowed out log. "In here!"

Caleb and Maddie both squeezed into the log, faces pressed up against the bark in hopes that their breathing would not be heard. She could feel Caleb's blood pool around her hands becoming caked and dry underneath her fingernails.

"Thanks, kid," Caleb whispered. "I owe you one."

Maddie smiled; the man she had always wanted to know, was finally right next to her, squished up beside her bleeding in a hallowed out log. She didn't care.

* * *

_**Wow, sorry for not updating in a while! I promise I'll update soon! I got swamped with High School shit. I had to drop Biology because there was no way in hell I was going to pass it and I had to deal with a few personal things as well. I also got shortlisted for a university interview for screenwriting and directing film so, I'll be going to that in a couple of days. This was another sucky chapter. I'm not going to lie but after this chapter I have it all planned out. I'm not very good at writing in story format... I wish you all could see my scripts! Please review! **_


	5. Author's Note

Hey everyone, I'm not sure who all reads this story but I will be uploading it again (on this account) in screenwriting format. I just can't write fanfiction in story format anymore, it's just... it's not natural to me and it's extremely tedious. I have been accepted into one of the top five schools in Canada for screenwriting and directing film. So, the script I will be writing will be in the proper format (though, not in the proper font) and I will be posting it on here. I really hope you all stick with it; I'm a better screenwriter than I am story format writer. Please let me know what you think below.

Thanks!


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